


The Boys of Summer

by QuickLikeLight



Series: And I’ve been looking at the stars [1]
Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Fraternity, Anxiety, Baseball, Friendship, M/M, McCall Pack, Pre-Slash, Rated T for language, Referenced Panic Attack
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-01
Updated: 2015-07-01
Packaged: 2018-04-07 04:37:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,206
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4249539
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/QuickLikeLight/pseuds/QuickLikeLight
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"They don’t like baseball?!" Stiles spun, sputtering, and landed both hands on Scott’s shoulders. "How are we friends with these losers? How did we let Jackson talk us into joining a fraternity full of dudes who don’t like baseball? This is a fucking travesty, Scott!"</p>
<p>"I know, man," Scott sighed, patting Stiles’ hands gently. "It’s okay. We have time. You can help them."</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Boys of Summer

**Author's Note:**

> This takes place approximately two months before the events of Bonfire Hearts. It's a prequel, but might be frustrating to read as a stand alone. Unbetad, but not unedited.

“Do you know who’s going to be there tonight?” He asked, hands in his pockets. It was… maybe a little weird to be sitting in the driver’s seat with his hands in his pockets. Especially since these jeans were kind of… tight.

Okay, he’d lost feeling in his left hand about two minutes ago.

“Just Jackson and Isaac. Danny has class. The girls are prepping for an exam - Kira says she’s sorry she’s going to miss it, by the way.”

“Kira I believe. What’s Boyd’s excuse?” Stiles gave in and pulled his hands out of his pockets, only to immediately tangle his fingers in the hem of his shirt.

“Boyd had somewhere to be,” Scott said as evasively as he could. So. Not very evasively.

“You’re a terrible liar. I already told you Boyd’s fine. Especially now, when we’ve been back at school so long. He doesn’t even really smell like -”

“Yeah, no, I know. He just didn’t want to invade, I think. Pack thing. He and Erica have… theirs. We have ours.”

“I can’t believe their pack gets Boyd and ours gets _Jackson_.”

Scott snorted quietly, probably despite his best efforts. He tried really hard to be kind to Jackson, even though Jackson was still mostly awful. Stiles…. still didn’t understand why, exactly, but he did notice how difficult it was.

Stiles did not try to be kind to Jackson, and that remained mutual. You couldn’t really make people like him and Jackson get along. Put up with one another? Sure. Stand together in a fight to the death? Of course. Not snipe at one another every ten seconds? Sorry, no can do.

“You ready to get in there or what?” Stiles asked, steeling himself to open the door. Scott didn’t move, just sat there in the seat next to him, steadfast and strong, like a patient rock. Er, a patient friend, who was his rock. Or something. Stiles always felt a little word-stupid after… stuff.

"You’re okay, right?" Scott’s face was painfully earnest in that way that made Stiles’ insides churn a bit, guilty over something he had nothing to do with.

“‘Course I’m okay,” he said, flinging himself out of the Jeep with a minimal amount of flailing. Some flailing.

"If you want to go watch at home instead, we can-"

"Scott, we’re here. I’m out of the car, even. The last game of World Series is basically a holiday! We need to celebrate with the pack." Stiles straightened his shirt and pointedly didn’t meet Scott’s eyes. "I’m not broken, okay? One tiny bit of anxiety -"

"Tiny? It was a full blown panic attack, Stiles!"

"-like I said, just one _little bit_ is not enough to keep me from baseball. We haven’t even bought a TV for our place yet!"

"I’m sure we could get Isaac and Jackson to let us borrow one, just for tonight..."

Stiles rolled his eyes, shoving Scott aside a little and then reeling him back in with an arm thrown around his shoulders. “They’re _our pack_ , Scott. I’m fine. It’s fine. Okay?”

Scott swallowed and nodded, a supportive smile plastered on his face. That churning feeling didn’t go away.

 

"Look who finally decided to show up," Jackson said from the doorway, rolling his eyes. Isaac pushed him out of the way. Stiles tried to hold back a laugh.

"We waited for you guys. Got the game recording, so we can skip the commercials-"

"Hey, we do not skip commercials, dude, you know that!" Stiles looked indignant. He felt indignant. Righteous indignation, man. "You do not skip the commercials during-"

"Come on, come in, you want a-" Isaac glanced from Scott’s face to Stiles’ and back, "- we have beer, just the, um, normal kind. Or I could get you a soda or something. I think Jacks is hiding some _effective_ liquor somewhere around here…”

"If you can sniff it out, you deserve to have it," Jackson snorted, pulling Stiles in by the scruff of his neck. Jackson’s hand on his skin didn’t feel _good_ , but it also didn’t make his skin crawl the way it had a few weeks ago. That was progress, right? "That shit is terrible though.”

"Ow, hey, fragile human here," Stiles grumbled, tripping over his own feet. Scott shot a hand out to hold him steady, hand warming the skin of Stiles’ arm just under his sleeve. "Are the others around?"

"Matt and Tres went out earlier to get a replacement window for the one Stiles broke last week-"

"I did not-" Stlies tried to interrupt, but Jackson just talked over him.

"-and the rest of the brothers are either studying or they just don’t like-"

"Please don’t say it," Isaac covered his face with his hands.

"Hey, Stiles don’t you want to -" Scott broke in, trying to distract.

" _They don’t like baseball_?!" Stiles spun, sputtering, and landed both hands on Scott’s shoulders. "How are we friends with these losers? How did we let Jackson talk us into joining a fraternity full of dudes who don’t like baseball? This is a fucking travesty, Scott!"

"I know, man," Scott sighed, patting Stiles’ hands gently. "It’s okay. We have time. You can help them."

"It’s _October_! There is no time left! It’s called the _Road to October_ for a reason!" Stiles could hear himself getting screechy, but really, Jackson was the worst fraternity chooser ever. Why they let Jackson - of all the people in the entire world - choose how they ran their social life - it was just -

“Hey, _hey_ , it’s alright!” Scott soothed. “We don’t want those assholes here anyway, right? They’ll probably horn in next year and be loud and annoying. This year it can be just us. Is that okay? I kind of like it… just us, you know?”

Stiles tried to fight back the flush rising to his cheeks. “‘Course. I like it just us too. Just us, and you know, these losers.” He gestured behind himself toward Jackson and Isaac. Isaac smacked his hand away.

"Right. Just us, and our betas," Scott grinned. They toed off their shoes on the mat, careful not to track in mud. Scott led the way into the common room easily, sitting down on the center cushion of the overstuffed suede sofa that Jackson had convinced everyone they needed the second he stepped into the house. Stiles followed him, drawn as if by the hand even though Scott wasn’t touching him. He wasn’t sure when that had happened… Sometimes since -

Anyway, it had happened, and it was a little weird but it was also kind of _nice_.

"Hey, no, you may be Alpha but there’s no way I am Stiles’ beta," Jackson grumbled, settling in a recliner. Isaac sat on the floor in front of the sofa, leaning back near Scott’s legs.

"We’re kind of Stiles’ betas," Isaac shot a grin at Scott. "In the same way that Scott’s kind of Stiles’ beta."

Stiles settled into the corner of the sofa, bare feet pressing warm and steady against Scott’s thigh. Scott’s hand rested on them comfortingly, familiar.

"I’m okay if you’re okay," Scott smiled, dragging his thumb gently over the top of Stiles’ foot.

Stiles nodded. “Well, I’ll be okay, if someone will turn on some freakin’ baseball.”

 

**Author's Note:**

> Your feedback is valuable to all fic writers, and I'm no exception. If you enjoyed this story, please let me know.
> 
> Come find me on [tumblr](http://quicklikelight.tumblr.com).


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